Over the Rooftops of Time: Jewish Stories, Essays, Poems

From the Backyard of the Diaspora

From the Backyard of the Diaspora So I say that we are enclosed here by more than history or barbed wire or chimneys but by these small yards by the absence of mountains by our own immobility which straps us to the distance that moves to the west and away from us. You send blessings from Jerusalem. 8 They are old and arrive at night like the stirring of birds in a dream. Within the moist cave of my body I call back. In the exile of this landscape there are no Babylonians, no Assyrians, only this split-rail fence over which the dogwood leans in spring as though it were about to speak. LEARNING THE LANGUAGE 9 ...